Kuwaiti Oil Tanker Attacked Near UAE; Crew Safe

Kuwait City. A Kuwaiti company's oil tanker caught fire last night after being struck by an unknown projectile. The tanker, flying the Kuwaiti flag, was targeted while in the maritime area a few miles off Dubai, near the United Arab Emirates, according to Vanguard, a US company that provides maritime intelligence.

The ship caught fire following the attack, but local fire officials brought it under control within a few hours. Reports indicated that all 24 crew members were safe and no one was injured. There has been no information yet about oil leakage from the tanker. According to publicly available tracking data, the tanker was headed to Qingdao, China. Another maritime intelligence company, TankerTrackers.com, stated that last month's loading data showed the vessel was carrying 1.3 million barrels of Saudi crude and 800,000 barrels of Kuwaiti crude.

The Al-Salmi tanker was built in 2011 and is owned by Kuwait Oil Tankers. Kuwait Petroleum Corporation called this attack a brutal Iranian airstrike. Although Iran has reported on the attack on the ship, it is unclear who has taken responsibility for the attack, nor have Iranian officials claimed responsibility so far. No pictures or videos of the damaged ship have been made public yet. Previously, there were reports that Iran had allowed tankers carrying oil for some countries, including India and China, to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.